This weekend, I did something I haven’t done in more than fifteen years. I had a booth at a craft fair: two actually: one Friday and one Saturday. Last month I wrote about how I did a Holiday Open House, which was actually at someone’s home. The craft fairs this weekend were at two schools, and I was one of about thirty vendors at the first one, and one of about sixty vendors at the second one. I had forgotten how fun it was to make a bunch of crafts (travel journals that I sold along with my travel book) and then sell them. (Jim is probably groaning as he’s…
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- Confessions, Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?, Family Fun, Fun in Chicago, I've Got Mad Skillz, Working On My Fitness
Lazy (River) Is Relative.
My family just returned from a night away at Keylime Cove, a fantastic water park resort in Gurnee, Illinois. Like all good water parks, Keylime Cove has a lazy river. For those of you who don’t know what a lazy river is, you’re totally missing out. A lazy river is basically a shallow pool (only about three feet deep) that winds through a water park much like the river it’s named for. There are underwater jets that are pointed strategically so that the water flows in one direction. The lazy part comes in when you sit in an inner tube and…well, you just get carried away on your inner tube…
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Confirmation That I Should Totally Become A Famous Actress
I sent the link to my post about how I died at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Saturday to Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair (Joe is the co-star and both are responsible for the book, lyrics, and music for “Murder For Two: A Killer Musical”), and I just got this reply: Hi there Melisa, Thank you so much for the kind words… and for being a willing participant in the action! Congrats on a great performance. 🙂 be well, Joe (& Kellen) I need an agent. Want to make this a long-term commitment? I might become a famous actress and win an Oscar someday. Please subscribe to my feed by…
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I Died At The Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Seriously.
I had a fantastic birthday weekend. Jim whisked me away to the city for a show and an overnight stay. When we came home, my sister presented me with the best birthday cake EVER, which you need to check out before you go any further because ohmygodyoujusthavetoseeit. Click here, and then come back. I’ll wait. I bet you’re wondering about the title of this post. Believe it or not, it’s totally true! How many people can say they made their stage debut dying at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, especially if they have never had any desire whatsoever to be on stage at all? (Good question, right? I’ll Google it later.)…
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Crafty.
I’m crafty. Not in a bad way, mind you: what I mean is that I am skilled at arts and crafts. All kinds. I’ve given you hints about it over the past few years: the wooden CD cabinet, the notecards, the paper sashes and flowers…but there’s more. WAY MORE. I have spent time doing the following things at some point: Cross-stitching Plastic Canvas needleworking Beaded jewelry Clay jewelry Stained Glass Clay sculpture Ceramics Stamping Mosaics Flower arranging Sewing Wood crafts Scrapbooking Quilling …but there’s more. When I was a kid, my mom frequented Leewards Craft Store. My mom is viciously talented when it comes to crafts. Her big craft now…
- Best Thing Ever, Family Fun, Food, I've Got Mad Skillz, Jim Has Mad Skillz, My Sister Has Mad Skillz
Sometimes It’s Best If You Schedule These Things.
Confession time: over the past year or so (maybe even eighteen months: I’ve lost track!), Jim and I have been in a rut. I never thought it would happen to us, but it did. We used to have plenty of time, and plenty of desire. In fact, on the nights when I didn’t feel like it, he took charge, and vice versa. As of late, our busy schedules and pure exhaustion at the end of the day turned the tides. When we least expected it, something we used to do almost every single day became an afterthought, a rarity. Of course I’m talking about cooking dinner. We used to have…
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Word-full Wednesday: The Lake Michigan Edition
I have a friend named Tara. Many of you know Tara too. If you are one of the lucky ones who know her, you know that she is a very, very talented photographer. Her pictures of the beach, in particular, completely blow me away, and when I see that she has posted new pictures of the beaches near her home in Florida, I always have a couple of thoughts in my head: 1. “My God, is that beautiful!” 2. “Tara is so talented!” 3. “I wish I could take some pictures near a beach right now!” On Monday, I finally had my chance to try my hand at grabbing some…
- I've Got Mad Skillz, Jim Has Mad Skillz, My Kid Has Mad Skillz, Proud Moments, Random Thoughts, Reflections on Parenting
Transitions, Part One
Ahh, life. We’re going through all kinds of changes in this house right now. I’m not typically a fan of changes, but I’m learning to roll with them as they come up. The biggest thing happening this week is D’s imminent departure. He’s going back to college on Monday, to begin his sophomore year. When I think about how worried and emotional I was last year, right before he left us for the first time, I smile a little bit. I wish I had known back then, just one tiny little year ago, that even though things were changing, they were staying the same in so many ways. He had…
- Confessions, Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?, I've Got Mad Skillz, My Kid Has Mad Skillz, Reflections on Parenting
The Ability To Procrastinate Doesn’t Happen Overnight, You Know…
Everyone who knows me well can vouch for the fact that one of my greatest skills is the ability to procrastinate. (Case in point: I wanted to write this post about six months ago.) I’m terrible at time management when it comes to projects. That said, don’t believe for a second that I miss deadlines, because I don’t. I might finish what’s due at the very last possible moment before my deadline is up, but I do finish on time. In spite of my chronic procrastination tendencies (I prefer to say that “I work well under pressure”), I am, surprisingly, more organized than the average person. Okay, part of it…
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Zeus and the Hanger
Time flies. It flies so quickly that I just realized I never wrote about the acquisition of J’s first car, six weeks ago. SIX WEEKS AGO. That’s like, four years in blog time. I won’t go into all of the details of the search except to say that J was delightfully open to “almost any car that runs”. This attitude was in massive contrast to his brother’s: when D was looking for his first car, he had things narrowed down to what was nearly impossible to find. Oh, he found it alright, but the annoyance level of everything having to do with that car hunt was high. This house was…